WASHINGTON – Hispanic workers in the U.S. earn 72 percent of what non-Latino whites are paid, according to a report presented Wednesday by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“The Economic State of the Latino Community in America” was prepared by the CHC in collaboration with the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.
While Hispanics constitute 17 percent of the U.S. population, their median annual household income, $42,500, is $18,000 less than that of non-Latino whites.
Among foreign-born Latinos, median household income drops to $34,600 a year.
The typical full-time Hispanic worker earns around $602 a week, compared with $829 for a non-Latino white.
The situation is even worse for Hispanic women, who earn only 55 cents for every $1 paid to a white non-Latino man and 88 cents for every greenback going to a male Hispanic.
“It’s important to know where we are as a Latino community and what we need to do to continue in the right direction. We are making progress in some areas. But in other areas we are still lagging behind,” CHC Chairwoman Linda Sanchez said Wednesday during the presentation of the study.
Raising the minimum wage and making higher education more affordable are two things Congress could do to narrow the pay gap, the California Democrat said.
Latinos make up 16.3 percent of the private-sector workforce, but are concentrated in low-paying jobs in services, construction and agriculture.
At the same time, Hispanics are under-represented in areas such as finance, corporate management and medicine.
“As a nation of immigrants, it’s alarming to see how much further we have to go to make sure all children can afford to go to college, own their own home and earn a secure retirement,” said CNC member Xavier Becerra of California, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus.
The U.S. is home to more than 55 million Hispanics and Latinos are projected to make up nearly 30 percent of the population by 2060.
Latin American Heral October 22, 2015
